Anyone expecting hot debates or pointed remarks at Thursday night's outreach meeting for the city's proposed Cultural Plan didn't get them. What the gathering of about 20 citizens seemed to say was yes, what the city is trying to do is good, admirable, much-needed.

In other words, they like the game plan. It's the execution of the plan that comes next.

Indeed, a new Cultural Plan is being formulated for the first time in 16 years. This particular session took place at the Bachman Lake Branch Library, where people from the community braved a thunderstorm to discuss the city's approach. And to a person, they liked it.

David Lozano, executive artistic director of Cara Mía Theatre, made the evening's most memorable comments with personal stories that underscore the plan's top two criteria, equity and diversity.

"As we know," he said, "Dallas is now 43 percent Latino."

Part of the mission of his company, he said, is to address "the cultural needs of the Latino community. We don't often think of culture as being a need, but it truly is. Culture helps us understand who we are."

Lozano's personal stories emphasized the points of the plan: "My dad was born in Little Mexico," Lozano said. "He said, 'I'm going to raise my family in the best neighborhood possible.' He became one of the most successful car salesmen in Dallas, as a Latino."

His dad wanted him "to grow up in North Dallas, but I was not near my culture at all."

That came later, when he was working in theater. "Then I understood where my family came from. I began to understand the music, the language. I began to understand why my family is the way we are. And this is the value of culture."

At a time when the nation is bitterly divided, "It's actually culture and stories that help us understand each other without engaging in political and social debates," he said.

Lozano applauded efforts to reach out to individual, and in some cases, underserved neighborhoods to envelop them in the city's cultural ambitions. Scripps noted recently that the new Pleasant Grove branch of the Dallas Public Library includes a space that doubles as a black-box theater, where a local poet and Dallas Black Dance Theater have performed free shows for the community.

"How would you like to see arts here every week?" Lozano said, referring to the Bachman Lake Branch Library. "In this room?"

The room where the meeting took place "is a black-box theater with professional lights," he said, gazing at the ceiling. "We've been talking for several years now about how we can bring professional performances and art exhibitions in this space for this neighborhood — specifically curated for this neighborhood."

That alone is one of the goals of the Cultural Plan, and that alone, he said, is the part he's most ecstatic about.

A gathering of about 20 people met at the Bachman Lake Branch Library on the night of September 6, 2018, to discuss the city's new Cultural Plan. This is one of the group discussions that too place during the evening.